The present invention is a novelty ball useful for such purposes as teaching motor skills to children, as a practice ball for such sports as golf, tennis, or soccer, and for many other purposes where it is desirable for the ball to have a limited travel distance after being thrown or struck. The ball further has the feature that there is virtually no possibility of injury to a person who might accidentally be hit by it.
The prior art has many examples of balls purporting to accomplish the above purposes These include "geodesic" balls, made of open triangles of stiffened string, yarn balls, apertured hollow plastic or "whiffle" balls, sponge or foam "Nerf" balls of various constructions, wool fleece balls, and balls with extending feathers, to name but a few. These can be found in novelty stores and are also available from dealers selling various types of athletic equipment to schools.
A throw toy somewhat similar to the present invention is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,288 to di Donato. This has a body made of a cube or cylinder of a rigid or resilient material. It further has a plurality of extending "tall like members" which appear to be made from a very flexible cord. Each of these members has at its terminal end a small wing-like vane or "flutter flap" which spins when the toy is thrown. The tail-like members are said to make it easy for a child to catch the toy and to bring it to a rapid halt when it is rolling along the ground.
Topliffe, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,888, shows a ball-like canine toy having a number of attached tethers made of cord or string. The tethers are looped through pairs of molded openings lying along chords parallel to a polar axis of the ball. These are sized so that they can be gripped readily in the teeth of a small dog.
Stillinger, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,529, shows a ball made of a densely packed bundle of elastic strands. This ball will not bounce and is intended mainly as a toss-and-catch toy or a "worrying" toy to be tossed from hand to hand, presumably while on some mental task.
While all of the above ball-like toys are useful, they have not completely solved the problems inherent in a novelty ball that can be thrown or struck or kicked in a straight path, readily caught especially by a young child, and will stop quickly after hitting the ground. Additionally, many of them have problems of durability or manufacturing complexity and others are inherently unsafe and should not be used in the unsupervised play of children.
The novelty ball of the present invention appears to have solved most or all of the above problems and will now be described in detail.